Dear World,

Why are you so cruel?  I haven't even truly gone out yet to experience all that you have to offer, whether you present hurdles or shortcuts to me, and I know that you're dastardly already.  Why did man create such a corrupt society, one that embraces the most outlandish and terrible practices while rejecting the more benefiting ones (not benefiting for the pockets of big-time corporates, but for the world in its entirety)?  I daresay I am appalled.  Sometimes I wish I were an angler fish, or some obscure species of animal that lives far away from the disgusting species of deformed primates, or that I was born somewhere else in the universe away from this beautiful planet that humans have managed to ruin.  Sometimes I wish I could enter the realm of my dreams and not have to deal with the harshness of reality, but I know I can't.  I can't escape this bubble of hatred, greed, and vice, unless I miraculously build a rocket to shoot myself into the Sun, or perhaps a time machine that could send me to a better future where the world isn't much of the craptastic mess it is now.

So I will be waiting for your downfall, O human-induced world.  When humanity finds itself at the precipice, I will sit back and laugh as they try to mend something beyond fixing.  There won't be a need to say 'I told you so'.

Death, I don't fear you.

Life is another story.

Mapping Everyday: Gender, Blackness, and Discourse in Urban Context: My Take On It

This article was very interesting, and quite true.  Our society is tightly wrapped in a blanket of racism, sexism, and discrimination, one that we "attempt" to unwrap but ultimately stay bound to.  The media is so concerned with exploiting minorities, and practically point fingers on who's making society the craptastic mess it currently is.  Sexism towards women has altogether made men terrible obstructions, whereas it has made women believe that being submissive and ultimately undermined is acceptable.  The quotes made by the students, specifically the remarks about porn, sexual violence/abuse towards women, and the comment about D.C., had a particular impact on how I read the entirety of this article.  They made me think: why is society this way?  Why do we separate ourselves from one another?  Is there a way to amend society?

Mapping Everyday: Gender, Blackness, and Discourse in Urban Context

"Finding the Critical Geographers useful once again, we turn to Lefebvre and Soja, this time on the discussion of the spaces of representation (in Soja's trialectic described as Thirdspace) which are seen as distinct from spatial practice (Soja's Firstspace) andrepresentations of space (Soja's Secondspace), but also as encompassing them. This Thirdspace is “directly lived, with all its intractability intact, a space that stretches across the images and symbols that accompany it, the space of ‘inhabitants’ and ‘users”’ and spaces of representation “are linked to the ‘clandestine or underground side of social life”’ (Soja 1996, 67). The concurrent nature of spatial dynamics then offers an opportunity to recognize the discursive in the construction of the social while still insisting upon the focus on the material, the lived experiences of space."


The whole concept of this so-called 'space' discussed in this article completely passed over my head.  I don't understand what is meant by this 'space', 'thirdspace', etc.  I am literally writhing in confusion.

Indigenous Resistance - Evading Oppression

I'd first like to start by saying this was a very interesting article.  Everyone knows that the Native Americans have been oppressed by both the American and Canadian governments, but most don't know to what extent.  This article outlines the trials and tribulations that the Coast Salish peoples on both the American and Canadian sides of the border went through in schooling.  Through the use of residential and boarding schools, the USA and Canada attempted to completely assimilate the Coast Salish peoples into white culture, diffusing out the culture of their ancestors; luckily, it was a complete and utter failure thanks to various strategies implemented by these indiginous people (e.g. not allowing the kids to attend the schools, allowing the children to attend Indian-only schools, accusations of racism, etc).  The Indian students of these assimilatory institutions were often reguarded in a negative way by their white classmates; however, they managed to perservere.  Though it took a little while before some equality was reached (it took longer in Canada than in the USA), the Coast Salish people managed to retain their culture, even though there was some mixing between the white and Coast Salish cultures.

It's hard to believe that this was going on no less than three decades ago...actually, I lied.  It isn't hard to believe.  Why?  You can come up with an answer to that question for yourself.

Butterfly Lessons - What Can Be Drawn From the Well

What can be drawn from the well that is Butterfly Lessons?  This article sheds light on a number of subjects ranging from climate change to the invasive species that is the comma butterfly.  Man has shaped Earth for centuries, either directly (i.e. Alexander the Great connecting the eastern part of the Aegean Sea with Tyre, which was once its own island) or indirectly; those changes have had either no effect or great effect on the Earth as a whole.  One of man's greatest "contributions" to the Earth was climate change.  As the earth warms up, life forms all across the globe are attempting to adapt.  Species native to an area are moving to other more favorable areas that can support them, as opposed to their indigenous homes.  Elizabeth Kolber, author of Butterfly Lessons, argues in the article that climate change is changing the way animals interact with their environment, in terms of ways of reproduction, the changing of diets, etc.  The iron-clad rule of this world is "only the fittest survive" and has thus far not been disproven.  Kolber notes that mosquitoes in parts of the United States and Canada are actually prevalent year-round, while they once before died during the winter.  "As the climate had warmed, those mosquitoes which had remained active until later in the fall had enjoyed a selective advantage, presumably because they had been able to store a few more days' worth of resources for the winter, and they had passed this advantage on to their offspring, and so on."  There's no doubt that everything will change, with perhaps no hope of reverting back what the Earth once was.

My project deals mainly with the scarcity of water; that topic, however, delves into others that deal with not only humans, but the environment.  Butterfly Lessons finds its link with my project there.

Destroy the Wetlands?

Wetlands are ecologically, economically, and socially important.  They provide a plethora of resources such as economically important fish and plants, and also provide recreational services.  Wetlands provide a natural water-cleaning system that aids in stopping pollutants from contaminating clean freshwater supplies, and also help control floods; they also suckle other ecosystems that depend on flooding.  However, despite the benefits they provide both economically and environmentally, they also pose as barriers.  Wetlands provide a wealthy source of rich, fertile soil that can be utilized for agriculture; with a rapidly increasing global population, a surplus of food is necessary in order to accommodate changing conditions on the planet.  Thus, there may be some logic in mowing down certain sections of a wetland for agricultural, social, and economic purposes.

Are you "In Denial?" YES!

Middle school was a very interesting period of my life.  At the time, I was living in La Verne, California, a sizable town a mere 40 minutes away from the bustling city of L.A.  Foothill Christian School, the private school I attended in Glendora, California, was a school that was very fearful and observant of God and Christ.  Every student was required to take Bible class throughout their entire middle school career, and attend chapel every single Friday near the end of the day.  Though there were some scholars that followed other religions--even atheism--the entire school was predominately Christian or Catholic.  I was raised in a Christian home myself, thus I fit right in.  Or not.

I've never seen a place bedraggled by so much contradiction in my life.  They advertised the Bible and Christianity like it was some commercial for beer or something.  The teachers drilled it into our heads that God was the only god in existence, Jesus was His son, and all who didn't believe in the Anointed One earned themselves a ticket to the fiery depths of Hell.  I can't recall at any time being encouraged to think for myself.  I can't really recall a time where the ideals of other religions were accepted or even considered/acknowledged, either.

My suspicions of the school being "corrupt" were confirmed when misfortunate things started happening to my teachers.  My Spanish teacher, Mrs. Nicely, got into a car accident and suffered from temporary memory loss.  My Math teacher, Ms. Smallwood, had issues with her blood and was out of the classroom often due to sickness.  My Science teacher, Mr. Dickey, went downright insane one day because he was bi polar and hadn't taken his medicine.  Along with this, a good number of the students fell captive to pop culture and the media, thus moving away from the teachings of Christianity shoved down their throats.  

Being in denial, for me, means not accepting something that's obviously true.  As for being "close-minded," it means that someone is not considering something that may in fact be acceptable.